The Tuscan tradition of adding bread to soups is exemplified by the Florentine soup Pappa Pomodoro. We have four different recipes in our previous books. This is a light, uncooked version and very easy to make.

4 tomatoes

1 English cucumber

1 garlic clove

2 fresh hot red chiles

4 ciabatta slices

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

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Extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup basil leaves

1 Peel the tomatoes, cut in half, and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the flesh to a pulp and put in a bowl. Peel the cucumber, cut in half and halve again lengthwise, then cut out the seeds. Chop the flesh finely. Peel and finely chop the garlic with 1 tsp. sea salt. Cut the chiles in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and finely chop. Add the cucumber, garlic, and chiles to the tomatoes.

2 Soak the ciabatta slices in a little cold water so they are thoroughly moist. Sprinkle with the vinegar and leave for 10 minutes.

4 Tear the basil into small pieces and stir into the soup. Serve with more olive oil.

DEVON MAKES THE SOUP Of course, they could have called it Gazpacho, but that's not Italian. Whatever you decide to call this salady soup or soupy salad, it is delicious. Who knew that this fairly pedestrian list of ingredients would come alive when thrown together?

I've never been big on peeling tomatoes, but it is worth it here and was actually sort of fun. You make a slit in the side of each tomato, put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water for 1/2 minute. Remove into cold water, and peel as soon as they're cool enough to touch. I didn't remove the seeds from the cucumber, but do take the time to get a nice even dice. The chili pepper had very tough skin and was hard to dice finely. I wondered about grilling it over a flame and taking the skin off; I've never tried that with such a small pepper. And once again I had no idea how much heat this pepper was going to add, so I only used one. It was early in the season and my tomatoes were not fabulous the first time I made this, so I was unprepared for the complex intensity of the finished product.

On really hot summer days I like to serve this soup instead of drinks before lunch. I'll pass a tray of soup on the rocks--that is, over ice cubes in a highball glass with a teaspoon stuck in instead of a swizzle stick. Don't forget a sprig of basil--refreshing, and a refreshing change from a Bloody Mary.